Rosharans Are Tall

[StanLemon]

Like really tall. Must be the low gravity

Quote

Questioner

In the Arcanum Unbounded, it says that a Rosharan foot is longer than cosmere standard. How does that compare to an Earth foot?

Brandon Sanderson

Longer. Kaladin is almost seven feet tall, by our measurements. We've got a height comparison, Shallan is about six feet tall. She thinks she's short. Compared to us, she'd be on the taller end. That's why if you notice people from around the cosmere that show up, they're often mentioned as short. Not Hoid, who's able to use magical means to change how he's perceived, but someone like Felt, and stuff like that.

 

[Frustration]

And high oxygen

[Medium]

36 minutes ago, StanLemon said:

Like really tall. Must be the low gravity

 

Yeah, I've heard this before. Brandon said that Yolen was the same as earth, for earth/cosmere measurement comparisons, and Roshar has lower gravity than Yolen/Earth, making rosharans like... really tall :|

[NameIess]

8 minutes ago, Theldragor said:

Yeah, I've heard this before. Brandon said that Yolen was the same as earth, for earth/cosmere measurement comparisons, and Roshar has lower gravity than Yolen/Earth, making rosharans like... really tall :|

 I think it's Scadrial, actually.

Edit- found the WoB:

Quote

Brandon Sanderson

Vinuarch

Yes, one of the months of the year is named after Vin. There are twelve months, one after each member of the crew, with a few tweaks. (The days of the week have different names too, but we ended up not using any in this book.)

By the way, Scadrial—the world of Mistborn—is the closest Earth analogue in the cosmere. I did this intentionally, as I wanted one planet where technology and the like progressed similarly to what we have. There are distinctions, of course, but generally we've got a lot of similarities. Even in the original Mistborn, we referenced plants and animals by Earth-style names. You can assume that on Scadrial they have horses, dogs, cats, sparrows, and the like. There are twelve months, and a twenty-four-hour day. Gravity is earth gravity. Things like this.

There's no hidden meaning there—no tie back to Earth, at least not in any important way. The cosmere is entirely separate from Earth. This one planet, however, has creatures that were developed along the same lines as Earth. (Well, it's not the only one, but to say more would be to give away too much.)

The Alloy of Law Annotations (March 14, 2014)

 

Edited October 16, 2021 by Nameless

[Medium]

Just now, Nameless said:

 I think it's Scadrial, actually.

Really? I thought it was Yolen... hmm

[+Invocation]

15 minutes ago, Theldragor said:

Really? I thought it was Yolen... hmm

I think Yolen gets disqualified because of the fainlife stuff. I have 0 doubt that there's some oddities stemming from that.

[Medium]

1 minute ago, Invocation said:

I think Yolen gets disqualified because of the fainlife stuff. I have 0 doubt that there's some oddities stemming from that.

I'm going to pretend to know what fainlife is

[+Invocation]

1 minute ago, Theldragor said:

I'm going to pretend to know what fainlife is

Bone-white flora and bleached land. The plants bleed. The Sho Del are the fainlife equivalent to humans. It takes over the normal sections of Yolen and the folks in Dragonsteel Prime had to figure out how to control it lest they get taken over.

[mathiau]

3 hours ago, Theldragor said:

Really? I thought it was Yolen... hmm

3 hours ago, Invocation said:

I think Yolen gets disqualified because of the fainlife stuff. I have 0 doubt that there's some oddities stemming from that.

Scadrial was basically Ruin and Preservation making a copy of Yolen without fainlife, their size, gravity, atmosphere and day/year length are basically the same (in Era 2, of course in Era 1 it's not the case since the planet is not at the same position)

[StanLemon]

26 minutes ago, mathiau said:

Scadrial was basically Ruin and Preservation making a copy of Yolen without fainlife, their size, gravity, atmosphere and day/year length are basically the same (in Era 2, of course in Era 1 it's not the case since the planet is not at the same position)

I think that's accurate as well

[+Invocation]

2 hours ago, mathiau said:

Scadrial was basically Ruin and Preservation making a copy of Yolen without fainlife, their size, gravity, atmosphere and day/year length are basically the same (in Era 2, of course in Era 1 it's not the case since the planet is not at the same position)

Yeah exactly, that's why I think Scadrial gets ranked above Yolen. The fainlife stuff got yoinked and the normal stuff stayed.

[Elegy]

Some WOBs about this:

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Questioner

How tall is Kaladin?

Brandon Sanderson

Kaladin I think is 6' 4"? But I'm not 100% sure how the equivalent-- Like he is 6' 4" to Rosharans, which may actually put him several inches taller to the 6' 4", like the feet on Roshar are not exactly the same as feet here.

Skyward Houston signing (Nov. 19, 2018)

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DrogaKrolow

In Arcanum Unbounded--

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

DrogaKrolow

Khriss said that Roshar has an unusually high level of oxygen.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

DrogaKrolow

And where does this oxygen come from?

Brandon Sanderson

It is a natural part of their atmosphere. Part of this-- There's two answers to this. One answer is: It was created that way, because Roshar creation predates the Shattering of Adonalsium and a lot of things were set up that way. The scientific side is, in building the creatures that I was building on Roshar I needed a high oxygen environment, just to make the logistics work and even then I had to like-- It's high oxygen, low gravity, right? It's like 0.7 something Earth gravity. And even then I still had to add magic to get big beasties that I wanted to. Like the greatshells just can not exist. Square cube law. Even after I tweaked atmosphere and the gravity, the math didn't work, but fortunately I had the whole spren thing going on. These are both things I was trying do in order to create megafauna. I’m sorry, is that, did that make sense?

DrogaKrolow

Ok, but is there some higher level of production of oxygen, so like, there are no trees but it comes from the oceans?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, yeah. I mean they've got a lot-- What you've got, also, to remember is, most of Earth's oxygen doesn't come from our trees-- I mean it does but it comes from the ocean and things like this. I didn't have a problem building this into Roshar because-- What we've got on Roshar is we've got, number one, we've got the highstorms-- Which are actually really good for plant life when it comes to microflora, right? And beyond that you've got-- you've got weather patterns that are very-- Like it’s rarely freezing on Roshar. Most people on Roshar have never seen snow. And so-- I mean I didn't find it a problem making a high oxygen environment work, that was the least of my troubles in building Roshar. I mean most of the planet is ocean anyway.

DrogaKrolow

Some people were curious, just about it.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, were they? Okay. I mean, yeah-- I mean all you have to do is hit-- Like really you only have to hit a stasis, right? You are creating as much as you're using. Like if you start with high oxygen and you create as much as you use, you stay high oxygen. It doesn't need to actually be creating a higher percentage than our world is creating, as far as I understand it.

DrogaKrolow.pl interview (March 17, 2017)

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Blightsong

Have larger landgoing greatshells existed above a chasmfiend?

Brandon Sanderson

Larger than a chasmfiend... the ones that wonder around out in the islands of Reshi could go on land. So yea, it is possible that there are larger ones. They do better in the water, because of how big they are, but the high oxygen, low gravity, and symbiotic bonds with the spren allow some mega fauna that is just really large and just could exist on earth, so yea.

OdysseyCon 2016 (April 8, 2016)

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LordXenu069

How tall would the average chasmfiend be, and how much would they weigh? On a scale from ant to Godzilla.

Brandon Sanderson

So, they're big. Not godzilla big, but larger than elephant big. On average, they're going to loom over you at about twenty feet high, which is deceptive to their size, as they're longer than tall. And some do get even bigger.

Weight, though, is a tricky matter with greatshells on Roshar. The symbiosis with spren is how they get around crushing themselves. (Even on a lower gravity planet like Roshar.)

LordXenu069

One last question though, symbiosis is a two way relationship. The chasmfiends get a huge benefit, the ability to not immediately die. So what do the spren get out of it?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, the symbiosis is a two-way relationship. You'll find out more in future books, but suffice it to say, the spren DO get something out of the deal. (At least, when it happens naturally.)

General Reddit 2016 (Oct. 18, 2016)

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Questioner

Are there any greatshells in Roshar's oceans larger than the ones we've seen?

Brandon Sanderson

No.

Questioner

So the Reshi Isles--

Brandon Sanderson

The Reshi Isles, that's the biggest, and even with that I'm doing major fudging on the square-cube law. They've just spren-bonded, we'll talk about this. But even with the spren, those are a stretch. That's as big as it gets. They could exist in the oceans because the square-cube law doesn't apply the in same way, with buoyancy and things. But I think we don't need anything larger than islands.

Questioner

No Godzilla?

Brandon Sanderson

They're bigger than some version of Godzilla.

Arcanum Unbounded Chicago signing (Dec. 6, 2016)

Also, regarding which planet is most Earth-like in the Cosmere:

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A_Dunyain

This is just a stab based on perceived hints, but is Yolen the most "Earth-like" planet in the Cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson

Scadrial is, actually. Sel isn't too far off either. Yolen has some strangeness to it. Two competing ecologies, and some strange geography. But I have wavered on how to convey all of this, so none of it is set in stone yet.

/r/books AMA 2015 (April 7, 2015)

But Yolen is cosmere standard and that's also Earth size.

[Rosharan Chicken]

Now we make a list of short people in the stormlight archive and call them all Worldhoppers! But seriously, singers are mentioned to be taller than the average human. How tall would they be?

Edited October 18, 2021 by Spoon

[Frustration]

11 hours ago, Spoon said:

Now we make a list of short people in the stormlight archive and call them all Worldhoppers! But seriously, singers are mentioned to be taller than the average human. How tall would they be?

7'1-7'5 at the tall end would be my guess.

[+Invocation]

12 hours ago, Spoon said:

Now we make a list of short people in the stormlight archive and call them all Worldhoppers! But seriously, singers are mentioned to be taller than the average human. How tall would they be?

Probably about an extra shin length, give or take a couple inches.

[+mdross81]

13 hours ago, Spoon said:

Now we make a list of short people in the stormlight archive and call them all Worldhoppers!

Ask and ye shall receive. Here's my list of characters who are described as being short, broken down by category (I had most of these collected in one place already from going on a previous worldhopper hunt)

I've provided brief descriptions of more minor characters. And where there were other specific-sounding details about the character's appearance, I've included those.

I've also highlighted a couple that I think are particularly likely to be worldhoppers

Main characters: Szeth and Taravangian

Known Worldhoppers

• Iyatil
• Felt
• Sixteen
• Riino
• the short, white-robed ardent who spoke with Dalinar, Hatham, and Au-nak at a feast in WoK 54 (here's the WoB confirming him as a worldhopper)

Named Characters

Thaylens

• Captain Tozbek
• Queen Fen
• Yokska
• Captain Drlwan (sharp nose and unusually blonde hair, DS 4)
• Vrandl (Thaylen artifabrian, RoW 42)

Kaladin’s orbit:

• Amaram’s Army: Toorim (squadmate killed by Helaran), Gor (seen talking with Varth, the squadleader who sent Tien to die, RoW 108), Tukks
• Bridge Four/Windrunners: Skar, Sigzil, Teft, Dabbid, Lyn
• Hearthstone: Lirin, Torav (farmer, OB 6), Aric (guard, OB 6)
• Kholinar wall guard: Beard

Herdazians

• Lopen
• Huio
• Palona
• the Mink

Navani’s orbit

• Makal (short, plump woman who carried a satchel with painting supplies for Navani, WoK 69)
• Maratham (Kholinar palace steward, RoW prologue)
• Talnah (engineer, RoW 16)
• Kristir (scholar, RoW 37)

Dalinar’s orbit

• Tadat (short bald, bearded ardent wearing thick blue-gray layered robes from which his hands barely extended, WoK 28)
• Bashin
• Havarah (bridgelord w/Herdazian blood, WoK 26)
• Hathan (master-servant, Dalinar’s room steward in flashback, OB 36)

Assorted Alethi Lighteyes

• Highprince Aladar
• May Aladar
• Elit Ruthar
• Ialai Sadeas
• Tanalan (the younger)

Shallan’s orbit

• Malise Gevelmar
• Gaz
• Ishnah

Misc. Urithiru

• Godeke the Edgedancer
• Ristina (short Alethi woman, seen marking a ledger at the Oathgate, OB 46)
• Master Liganor (owns the pottery shop where Adin’s father works, RoW I-11)
• Alalan (Adin’s father, RoW I-11)

Miscellaneous (Rest of Roshar)

• Puuli (lighthouse keeper, OB I-1)
• Deeli (courted Adolin, WoK 12)
• Reshi King Ral-na (DS 3)
• Omal (short Azish general, RoW 50)

Unnamed Characters

• Coughing slave in the cart with Kaladin (WoK 1)

• Porter who transports Shallan up to the Conclave in Kharbranth (WoK 3)
• Apothecary Kaladin tries to buy medical supplies from in the warcamps (WoK 17)
• Vaulter/Scout on the Shattered Plains: short and compact with thick forearms (WoR 68)

• Ancient, wizened ardent swordmaster in Kholinar who wrapped his takama three times (OB 16)

• Bouncer at All’s Alley in Urithiru: short and squat, with a scar running up his cheek, across his forehead, and onto his scalp (OB 18)

• Victim of one of the murders Shallan investigates: a short fellow with long, drooping mustaches (OB 29)

• Tavern barkeep when Ishnah is teaching surveillance to Shallan’s crew: an older man, short enough that he stands on boxes when he fills orders (OB 44)

• One of the wrestlers in the bout Hav and Bashin wager on in Dalinar flashback: simply described as shorter than the other (OB 49)

• Shorter man among the Azish viziers and scions when Dalinar visits Azimir (OB 65)

• Innkeeper who puts up with Wit in Kholinar: short, heavyset Alethi man with a paunch so thick he looked like a big chull egg (OB 68)

• Azish vizier attending council of the monarchs: a short man with a very large hat (OB 111)

• Diagram member who wore Teft’s uniform while stealing Jezrien’s Honorblade: short Alethi man (OB I-14)

• Water-bearer in the Radiant infirmary in Urithiru: a short man with far too much hair on his body and a shash glyph painted on his forehead (RoW 74)

[Rosharan Chicken]

4 hours ago, mdross81 said:

Ancient, wizened ardent swordmaster in Kholinar who wrapped his takama three times (OB 16)

This guy.

Edited October 19, 2021 by Spoon

[KnightsOfHonor]

This makes me wonder about how Rosharan worldhoppers would fare on other planets with higher gravity? I feel like they would have very brittle bones growing up in a lowish gravity environment. If they traveled to a planet with, lets say 1.2 cosmere standard for gravity, would they get tired just walking around? Being that tall would really put quite a strain on ones joints, and then add the sudden increase of weight said joints now have to deal with (from being on a different planet) and all i see are knee problems. Maybe Lirin could make it big rehabilitating Rosharan worldhoppers with broken bones and blown out knees  

Edited October 19, 2021 by KnightsOfHonor

[HSuperLee]

3 hours ago, KnightsOfHonor said:

This makes me wonder about how Rosharan worldhoppers would fare on other planets with higher gravity? I feel like they would have very brittle bones growing up in a lowish gravity environment. If they traveled to a planet with, lets say 1.2 cosmere standard for gravity, would they get tired just walking around? Being that tall would really put quite a strain on ones joints, and then add the sudden increase of weight said joints now have to deal with (from being on a different planet) and all i see are knee problems. Maybe Lirin could make it big rehabilitating Rosharan worldhoppers with broken bones and blown out knees  

I do have to wonder if this is offset by the concentration of Investiture in their environment. They might actually have denser bones than we would expect from light-worlders. I suspect we'll actually see attention given to this as Rosharans become more involved with the greater Cosmere. If nothing else, we know that the surge of gravitation overrules the actual gravity a subject should be experiencing and replaces it with a new one, so Rosharans might be able to, either through fabrials or just through Windrunners and Skybreakers, actually bring Rosharan gravity with them when they travel. If nothing else, Shardplate itself might be able to strengthen them in a way that would negate the effects of higher gravity. Though honestly, surgebinders wouldn't really need to be that concerned about the higher gravity in general with their healing abilities, and its more the average Rosharan that might have issues. 

Sixth of Dusk 2 Spoilers:

Spoiler

We do have that scene from Sanderson's reading of SoD2 where we see a Rosharan worldhopper on another planet, and they're perpetually floating as if they have a half-lashing upwards to make them weightless. This could indicate that the higher gravity is actually an issue for Rosharans, and so they have to send surgebinders with gravitation to counteract it, but we really can't be too sure. It might have just been an intimidation factor.

 

[Trusk'our]

Wait, just out of curiosity, if Kaladin is almost seven feet tall in our terms, how tall is Jasnah?

[StanLemon]

2 hours ago, Trusk'our said:

Wait, just out of curiosity, if Kaladin is almost seven feet tall in our terms, how tall is Jasnah?

I'd guess 6'5"-7' range. If six foot is considered short by Rosharan standards, tall for a woman on Roshar is probably a good foot higher than what we would normally think of a tall woman. 

This made me think, if I recall the scene correctly, Shallan mistakes Iyatil as a child. Now I think she might be average height by our standards

[Frustration]

Just another reason Kal should play basketball.

[StanLemon]

29 minutes ago, Frustration said:

Just another reason Kal should play basketball.

I have a need for fanart of this

Edited October 20, 2021 by StanLemon

[KaladinWorldsinger]

On 10/20/2021 at 11:04 AM, Frustration said:

Just another reason Kal should play basketball.

Syl will stick the ball to his hand just when he is about to make an epic slam dunk